LD 

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ADDRESSES  AT  THE  TENTH  ANNUAL  COMMENCEMENT 

LELAND  STANFORD  JUNIOR  UNIVERSITY 

MAY  29,    1901 


THE   GOSPEL  OF  WORK 

George  Mann  Richardson 
Professor  of  Organic  Chemistry,  Leland  Stanford  Jujiior  University 


LELAND  STANFORD'S  VIEWS 
ON    HIGHER  EDUCATION 


David  Starr  IJordan 


fc 


President,  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University 


Published  by  the  University 

STANFORD  UNIVERSITY,  CALIFORNIA 

UNIVERSITY   PRESS 

1901 


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littp://www.archive.org/details/addressesattentliOOstanricli 


ADDRESSES  AT  THE  TENTH  ANNUAL  COMMENCEMENT 

LELAND  STANFORD  JUNIOR  UNIVERSITY 

MAY  29,   1901 


THE   GOSPEL  OF  WORK 

George  Mann  Richardson 
Professor  of  Organic  Chemistry,  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University 


LELAND  STANFORD'S  VIEWS 
ON    HIGHER  EDUCATION 

David  Starr  Jordan 
President  J  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University 


Published  by  the  University 

STANFORD  UNIVERSITY,  CALIFORNIA 

UNIVKB8ITY   PRESS 

1901 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  WORK. 

George  Mann  Richardson. 

Horace  Greeley  is  said  once  to  have  made  the  remark  : 
"Of  all  horned  cattle,  the  college  graduate  is  the  most  to 
be  feared." 

There  still  lingers  in  some  quarters  a  decided  prejudice 
against  the  college  graduate.  You  who  are  going  out  from 
us  to-day  as  graduates  will  no  doubt  be  made  to  feel  this. 
It  rests  with  you,  in  part,  to  determine  whether  the  next 
class  that  goes  from  the  University  shall  find  this  prejudice 
greater  or  less  than  you  will  find  it.  It  is  not  very  difficult 
for  us  to  see  some  of  the  reasons  for  this  lack  of  confidence. 
In  the  first  place,  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  in  most  cases  a 
prejudice  against  a  higher  education  or  against  educated 
persons,  except  as  it  is  owing  to  a  confusion  of  terms.  It 
is  common  to  assume  that  the  college  graduate  is  necessar- 
ily an  educated  man  or  woman,  but  this  is  a  fundamental 
error.  It  has  thus  far  been  found  impossible,  even  in  our 
best  and  most  thorough  colleges  and  universities,  to  devise 
any  system  of  exercises,  requirements,  or  examinations 
which  will  make  it  perfectly  certain  that  the  holders  of 
their  diplomas  shall  be  educated  men  and  women. 

An  education  is,  in  one  respect,  like  a  contagious  disease 
— not  every  one  who  is  exposed  to  it  takes  it.  The  diploma 
which  you  receive  to-day  is  merely  a  certificate  that  you 
have  been  exposed  to  an  education  ;  whether  you  have 
taken  it  or  not,  your  future  life  alone  will  determine.  Un- 
doubtedly a  great  part  of  the  prejudice  against  the  college 
graduate  comes  from  direct  contact  with  the  uneducated 
college  graduate,  and  in  so  far  as  this  is  the  case,  I  believe 


rs/a  /Q  rzf\i\ 


4  •  The  Gospel  of  Work. 

Horace  Greeley  was  right, — such  college  graduates  are,  to 
say  the;leal3t,  to  be  viewed  with  suspicion. 
^^  The  chances  are  that  any  young  man  who  has  spent  four 
:of  thc3  best  years  of  his  life  in  college  and  has  neglected  to 
make  good  use  of  his  opportunities,  will  continue  to  follow 
the  same  course  after  he  graduates  ;  and  such  are  not  the 
kind  of  people  for  whom  "  the  world  stands  aside  to  let  pass." 

The  most  important  principle  for  our  guidance  in  life  is 
a  thorough  realization  of  the  law  that  nothing  that  is 
worth  having  is  to  be  had  without  work.  When  this  law 
has  been  completely  accepted  and  becomes  part  of  our 
moral  fibre,  other  things  will  be  added  unto  us: — we  have 
started  on  the  right  road. 

Ignorance  of  this  law  or  the  effort  to  evade  it  is  the  cause 
of  much  disappointment,  misery,  and  crime.  There  are  no 
short-cuts  to  knowledge,  to  power,  or  to  happiness.  "Em- 
inence in  any  great  undertaking  implies  intense  devotion 
thereto,  implies  patient,  laborious  exertion,  either  in  the  do- 
ing or  the  preparation  for  it.  "  He  who  fancies  greatness 
an  accident,  a  lucky  hit,  a  stroke  of  good  fortune,  does  sadly 
degrade  the  achievement  contemplated  and  undervalues  the 
unerring  wisdom  and  inflexible  justice  with  which  the  uni- 
verse is  ruled."  Those  who  are  continually  seeking  an  un- 
earned happiness  are  the  people  that  the  world  can  best  spare. 

An  education  which  is  itself  acquired  by  hard  work  cannot 
be  considered  as  a  device  for  getting  along  in  the  world 
without  work:  it  merely  makes  our  work  the  more  effective, 
it  enables  us  to  work  at  the  long  end  of  the  lever, — but 
work  we  must.  Genius  is  sometimes  looked  upon  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  hard  work,  but  this  too  is  an  error,  as  we  shall 
quickly  recognize  when  we  read  the  biographies  of  a  few 
men  of  acknowledged  genius.  In  fact,  most  men  of  this  class 
have  exhibited  an  astonishing  capacity  for  work.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  really  surprising  how  closely  the  results  of 
application  and  energy  resemble  the  results  of  genius. 

Any  system  of  education  which  fails  to  develop  in  the 
individual  a  clear  recognition  of  this  great  law  of  work  must 


The  Gospel  of  Work.  5 

remain  unsatisfactory.  The  individual  who  fails  to  recog- 
nize this  law  or  who  does  not  act  according  to  it  cannot  be 
considered  as  educated. 

The  old  system  of  education,  in  which  the  time  was  spent 
in  studying  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics,  was  an  excellent 
system  for  those  to  whom  it  appealed,  as  is  proved  by  the 
grand  characters  that  have  been  developed  by  it.  It  was, 
however,  a  very  wasteful  system,  as  many  of  the  young  men 
who  went  to  college  did  not  become  interested  in  this  par- 
ticular kind  of  work.  Some  of  this  latter  class,  however, 
were  nevertheless  educated  by  the  contact  with  earnest  and 
educated  men  and  by  the  countless  other  educational  forces 
continually  at  work  outside  of  the  classroom  at  every  college. 

But  too  large  a  number  of  men  succumbed  to  the  habit, 
formed  by  four  years'  practice,  of  doing  lifeless  things  in  a 
listless  way. 

An  abundance  of  leisure  is  a  trial  to  which  few  men  are 
equal;  it  is  a  trial  that  should  not  needlessly  be  thrust  upon 
young  people  before  habits  of  work  have  been  established. 

As  the  weakness  of  the  old  system  came  to  be  recognized, 
new  subjects  were  added  to  the  college  curriculum  to  make 
it  more  generally  attractive,  or,  as  some  would  say,  to  make 
it  "broader."  There  were  added  a  little  modern  language 
study,  a  little  history,  a  little  political  economy,  a  little 
science,  and  so  on,  until  the  older  college  course  was  so 
diluted  that  it  offered  very  little  training  in  serious 
scholarship,  and  the  results  very  well  illustrated  the  old 
adage,  "  He  who  embraces  too  much,  holds  but  little." 

While  the  old  diflficulty  was  far  from  being  overcome  by 
these  changes,  a  new  diflSculty,  a  lack  of  thoroughness,  was 
introduced.  "A  broad  education," — what  crimes  have  been 
committed  in  that  name! 

The  demand  still  frequently  voiced  for  a  fixed  course  of 
study  which  shall  best  fit  the  "average  man"  for  the  life  of 
to-day  is  wholly  irrational.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  ex- 
change the  tyranny  of  the  old  fixed  course  of  study  for  the 
tyranny  of  a  new  fixed  course  of  study. 


6  The  Gospel  of  Work. 

Owing  to  the  endless  variety  of  human  characters  and 
human  tastes,  and  owing  to  the  present  extent  of  human 
knowledge  and  human  activities,  such  a  course  of  study  is 
an  absolute  impossibility.  Such  a  process  for  producing 
machine-made  men  would  be  prodigally  extravagant  of  hu- 
man material.  In  thus  attempting  to  produce  a  uniform 
product,  the  very  best  part  of  the  mental  equipment  of 
many  men  would  be  cut  away  or  hindered  in  growth  to 
make  them  fit  into  a  system  which  at  best  is  artificial.  The 
best  preparation  for  the  life  of  to-day  is  to  know  well  some- 
thing worth  knowing, — if  possible,  to  know  it  better  than  any 
one  else  knows  it.  Such  a  knowledge  is  attained  only  when 
the  work  necessary  to  it  strikes  a  responsive  chord  in  the 
individual  mind. 

Our  American  universities  are  tending  in  the  right  direc- 
tion, it  seems  to  me,  in  offering  the  student  a  wide  range  of 
studies  and  then  allowing  him  to  select  for  himself  those  to 
which  he  will  devote  his  attention.  A  university  with  un- 
limited means  should  extend  knowledge  and  offer  instruc- 
tion in  every  worthy  subject.  A  subject  to  be  worthy  must 
be,  first,  such  that  its  serious  study  offers  good  mental 
training,  and  second,  such  that  a  knowledge  of  it  tends  to- 
ward human  advancement.  But  the  university  with  un- 
limited means  is  an  ideal  which  has  no  realization. 

It  is  the  first  duty  of  a  university  to  do  well  that  which 
it  undertakes.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  much  of  the 
criticism  which  has  been  called  forth  by  this  introduction 
of  '^electives'^  into  the  university  curriculum  is  more  than 
justified  by  the  consequent  crippling,  owing  to  inadequate 
means,  of  work  previously  undertaken,  and  to  an  equip- 
ment wholly  inadequate  to  do  justice  to  the  new  work. 
The  expansion  of  the  curriculum  under  such  conditions  is 
thoroughly  dishonest,  and  the  results  are  most  deplorable. 
It  is  a  vulgar  form  of  self-advertisement  to  which  no  uni- 
versity should  stoop.  Desirable  as  it  is  to  have  a  wide 
range  of  studies  from  which  the  student  may  select,  expan- 
sion of  the  curriculum  in  any  given  institution  is  justifiable 


The  Gospel  of  Work.  7 

only  when  the  work  already  undertaken  is  adequately  done. 

Since  all  universities  are  hampered  from  a  lack  of  funds, 
it  is  eminently  desirable  that  all  universities  should  co- 
operate in  this  expansion  of  their  curricula,  and  instead  of 
following  the  old  and  narrow  policy,  dictated  by  petty 
jealousies,  of  establishing  new  departments  because  they 
have  been  established  elsewhere,  let  each  university  look  to 
develop  where  other  universities  have  not  developed,  so 
that  somewhere,  here  or  there,  the  student  will  be  able  to 
find  the  thing  he  needs  for  his  highest  development. 

With  ample  opportunities  for  studying  worthy  subjects 
the  student  should  be  able  to  find  in  the  university  that 
thing  which  will  best  enable  him  to  find  his  sphere  of  great- 
est usefulness  in  the  world,  that  thing  which  awakens  his 
enthusiasm,  —  and  it  is  not  of  great  importance  what  the  thing 
is  ;  it  is  the  awakening  that  is  of  supreme  importance  ;  that' 
is  the  first  great  step  towards  a  sound  education. 

One  student  will  gain  inspiration  from  the  great  epics 
of  Homer,  Dante,  or  Milton  ;  another  will  be  thrilled  and 
incited  to  higher  effort  by  reading  the  earth^s  history  in 
the  earth's  crust ;  a  third  will  have  his  soul  stirred  and  be 
able  to  detect  nature's  immutable  laws  by  the  study  of  the 
venation  in  the  wings  of  insects.  Any  work  which  is  thus 
capable  of  inspiring  men  to  new  and  nobler  effort  can  ill  be 
spared  from  our  educational  system. 

James  Russell  Lowell  is  reported  to  have  said  that  his  ad- 
miration for  Dante  lured  him  into  the  little  learning  that 
he  possessed  ;  while  the  direction  of  Darwin's  work  was 
determined  by  his  desire  to  know  all  about  coral  reefs.  As 
often  as  not  it  is  the  teacher,  and  not  the  subject  taught, 
that  first  arouses  the  interest  of  the  student. 

Thomas  Jefferson  said  of  one  of  his  old  teachers,  that  the 
presence  of  that  man  on  the  faculty  of  the  College  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  fixed  the  destinies  of  his  life.  The  univer- 
sity that  has  a  Mommsen,  a  Lowell,  or  an  Agassiz  in  its 
faculty  is  in  the  possession  of  a  power  for  good  that  is  be- 
yond  estimation.     How   important  it  is  that  the  student 


8  The  Gospel  of  Work. 

should  be  able  to  arrange  his  work  so  as  to  come  into  intimate 
contact  with  such  men! 

The  fear  is  often  expressed  that  with  such  possibilities  of 
choice  the  student  may  not  choose  wisely,  —  that  he  will  over- 
specialize,  that  he  will  be  too  narrow  in  his  selection  ; 
and,  strangely  enough,  this  fear  is  most  frequently  expressed 
by  those  who  look  back  to  the  older  classical  system  as 
probably,  after  all,  the  golden  age  of  education,  and  who 
look  upon  the  new  changes  as  an  unwise  catering  to  a 
popular  demand.  Will  there  ever  again  be  such  magnifi- 
cent specialization  as  when  the  student  pursued  the  study 
of  Latin  for  three  years  in  the  preparatory  school,  for  four 
years  in  the  college,  and  as  much  longer  as  his  schooling 
extended? 

Indeed,  it  was,  in  my  opinion,  just  this  specialization 
that  enabled  the  older  system  to  produce  such  excellent  re- 
sults. The  thorough  and  extended  study  of  a  subject  pro- 
duces the  best  kind  of  training. 

"  The  only  true  enthusiasm  lies  in  specialization,  and  the 
effort  to  compass  the  whole  realm  of  knowledge  ends  in  be- 
wilderment and  failure."  The  fear  of  narrowness  that  leads 
to  a  scattering,  that  kills  enthusiasm  and  produces  super- 
ficiality, is  far  more  to  be  dreaded  than  narrowness. 

It  is  serious  study  that  broadens ;  not  the  study  of  any 
specific  subject  or  of  many  subjects  Thorough  knowledge 
of  any  kind  begets  respect  for,  and  sympathy  with,  thorough 
knowledge  of  every  kind.  The  mastery  of  one  subject  gives 
strength  to  master  another. 

So  long  as  universities  refuse  to  give  place  in  their 
courses  to  the  trivial,  the  superficial,  and  the  sham,  over- 
specialization  is  a  danger  that  need  have  no  terrors. 

The  student  who  enters  the  university  and  selects  his 
studies  with  a  view  to  their  bearing  upon  his  future  calling 
is  pursuing  a  thoroughly  rational  course.  After  spending 
four  years  in  the  serious  study  of  things,  even  though  they 
have  a  direct  bearing  upon  his  life-work,  if  the  mind  of  the 
student  is  still  narrow,  then  there  is  no  implement  in  the 


The  Gospel  of  Work.  9 

educational  workshop  with  which  it  can  be  broadened.  It 
is  well  for  us  to  remember  in  this  connection  that  there  are 
minds  which  no  system  of  education  yet  devised  seems  to 
broaden,  minds  which  never  gain  the  power  to  look  upon 
any  subject  except  from  the  bread-and-butter  point  of 
view. 

In  an  address,  delivered  not  long  since,  Professor  Charles 
Eliot  Norton  deplored  the  tendency  of  our  times  as  exhibited 
in  the  decay  of  principle  in  our  public  men,  and  as  an  antidote 
to  this  he  recommended  a  more  universal  and  a  more 
thorough  study  of  English  literature.  Even  among  those 
who  believe  the  evils  pictured  to  be  true,  many  would  be 
inclined  to  smile  at  the  remedy  suggested. 

Yet  the  remedy  is  a  good  one.  Its  value  lies  not  in  any 
specific  quality  of  English  literature  as  distinguished  from 
other  branches  of  knowledge,  but  rather  in  the  inspiration, 
the  uplift,  and  the  appreciation  of  truth  that  comes  from 
earnest  and  thorough  study  of  any  worthy  subject. 

The  advocates  of  the  older  system  of  education  are  now 
for  the  most  part  ready  to  admit  that  recent  changes  are 
perhaps  justifiable  upon  purely  utilitarian  grounds.  In- 
deed, when  we  look  about  and  note  the  wonderful  material 
advancement  made  possible  by  a  more  general  and  a  more 
exact  knowledge  of  natural  laws,  it  would  be  captious  to 
deny  this.  But  many  of  them  still  believe  that,  when  it 
comes  to  the  development  of  real  culture,  the  new  education 
can  only  helplessly  appeal  to  the  old. 

In  consequence,  we  hear  much  about  so-called  "culture 
studies"  as  distinguished  from  others,  which,  by  implication 
at  least,  stand  on  a  distinctly  lower  plane.  In  this  connec- 
tion allow  me  to  quote  from  a  recent  editorial  in  the  Nation 
called  forth  by  certain  changes  in  the  entrance  require- 
ments of  Columbia  University  intended  to  permit  the  sub- 
stitution of  an  increased  amount  of  mathematics  for  some 
of  the  Latin  previously  required. 

"  President  Low's  recommendation,"  says  the  writer  in  the 
Nation^  ''  will   certainly   be   cited   and   appealed   to   as   a 


10  The  Gospel  of  Work. 

precedent  by  lesser  colleges  and  universities;  and  in  many  a 
Western  faculty  Columbia  and  Cornell  will  be  held  up  as 
bright  examples  of  modern  tendencies  in  the  education  in 
the  East.  .  .  .  We  have  before  us  the  problem  of  articu- 
lating  the  public  school  with  the  college.  It  is  no  easy 
task.  Western  universities  (most  of  them  are  really 
colleges),  growing  up  under  local  conditions  and  holding 
utilitarian  or  scientific  ideals  before  them,  have  not  been 
vexed  by  the  problem,  but  our  stronger  Eastern  universities 
and  colleges  have  it  still  to  work  out. 

"While  these  institutions  have  met  the  modern  demand 
for  scientific  training,  they  have  also  sought  to  retain  their 
ideals  of  culture,  and  most  of  them  have  succeeded  in  the 
effort.  The  modern  public  school,  being  nearer  the  popular 
heart,  has  sacrificed  ideals  of  culture  to  those  of  science,  so 
that,  while  the  ordinary  public  schools  can  send  up  to  the 
college  or  university  students  prepared  to  continue  their  edu- 
cation along  scientific  lines,  most  of  them  are  unable  to  fur- 
nish the  necessary  propaedeutic  for  culture.  President  Low's 
idea  of  a  solution  is  simply  and  frankly  to  follow  Western 
experience  ;  to  unify  the  two  along  the  line  of  physical  science 
and  utilitarian  aims  —  aline  of  least  resistance  —  and  let 
the  culture  go.  .  .  .  Thus,  when  we  are  forced  to  the  con- 
clusion that  our  classical  machinery  of  elementary  culture 
is  inadequate  to  modern  intellectual  life  and  to  our  modern 
educational  conditions,  we  think  we  must  abandon  culture, 
at  least  elementary  culture,  altogether,  and  devote  the 
earlier  years  of  training  to  a  preparation  for  the  pursuit  of 
science.  Small  wonder  if  those  of  us  who  cannot  ignore  the 
value  of  culture  are  thus  compelled  to  oppose  the  develop- 
ment of  science  as  the  only  means  of  retaining  what  culture 
there  is  in  our  educational  system." 

According  to  this  writer,  it  would  appear  that  culture  is 
something  that  cannot  possibly  be  attained  by  the  study  of 
any  science.  Does  culture,  then,  consist  of  a  certain  number 
of  definite  attainments,  the  possession  of  which  means  cul- 
ture, and  the  lack  of  which  excludes  culture?     Is  it  possible 


The  Gospel  of  Work.  11 

that  a  certain  prescribed  course  of  study  produces  in  all 
minds  the  uniform  results  which  we  call  culture,  while  in  all 
other  things  we  observe  the  most  striking  differences  in  the 
ways  in  which  different  minds  react  toward  one  and  the 
same  discipline? 

Is  not  culture  rather  a  combination  of  character  and  at- 
tainments? A  true  basis  for  culture  in  the  individual  is  a 
sincere  love  of  truth,  and  a  firm  belief  that  all  truth  is  safe. 

Emerson  says  of  the  possessor  of  culture  :  "  He  must  have 
a  catholicity,  a  power  to  see  with  a  free  and  disengaged  look 
every  object."  Culture  is  found  among  men  of  the  most 
widely  different  training,  and  it  is  also  frequently  lacking 
in  men  whose  training  has  been  all  that  thought  could 
suggest. 

May  we  not  therefore  justly  conclude  that  there  are  many 
roads  leading  to  culture,  and  that,  owing  to  the  great  diver- 
sity of  minds  and  characters  among  men,  when  we  limit  the 
number  of  these  roads  we  simply  diminish  the  number  of 
persons  who  attain  culture?  The  evidence  seems  clear  that 
there  are  many  who  attain  culture  by  a  study  of  the  ancient 
languages  and  literatures  who  never  would  attain  it  by  a 
study  of  the  physical  sciences  ;  likewise  there  are  many  who 
reach  culture  through  a  study  of  the  physical  sciences  who 
never  would  reach  it  by  a  study  of  the  classics. 

Why  not  leave  both  avenues  of  approach  unobstructed? 

The  folly  of  keeping  a  Pasteur  at  writing  Latin  verses  is 
quite  equalled  by  the  folly  of  keeping  a  Tennyson  at  peer- 
ing through  a  microscope. 

The  notion  is  prevalent  that  such  freedom  •  of  choice, 
which  renders  possible  the  easy  following  of  one's  own  in- 
clination, cannot  possibly  furnish  the  same  discipline  as 
may  be  had  by  the  student's  being  forced  to  pursue  some 
line  of  work  that  may  perhaps  be  more  or  less  distasteful. 
It  is  doubtless  true  that  human  beings,  like  other  things  in 
nature,  tend  to  follow  the  line  of  least  resistance.  Yet  it  is 
by  overcoming  resistance  that  we  gain  strength.  There  is 
here  a  real  danger  to  the  student  which  can  be  avoided 


12  1^6  Gospel  of  Work. 

only  by  the  constant  vigilance  of  the  university  authorities. 

Only  worthy  subjects  adequately  cared  for  should  be 
found  in  the  university  curriculum. 

As  has  been  already  stated,  the  most  important  thing  to 
be  acquired  in  a  general  education  is  the  habit  of  work,  and 
this  is  most  easily  and  most  surely  acquired  by  doing  work 
that  is  congenial.  This  habit  once  acquired,  all  work  as- 
sumes a  different  aspect,  and  growth  in  all  directions  is 
henceforth  possible.  On  the  other  hand,  the  attitude  toward 
work  and  the  habits  acquired  by  enforced  contact  with  un- 
congenial work  are  apt  to  dull  enthusiasm,  to  stifle  ambi- 
tion, and  future  growth  becomes  much  more  problematical. 

It  is  quite  human  for  the  man  who  has  enjoyed  the 
privileges  of  the  older  classical  education  and  who  has 
drawn  therefrom  inspiration,  pleasure,  and  appreciation  of 
the  beautiful,  to  look  upon  the  trend  of  modern  education 
with  misgivings  and  suspicion  and  to  raise  his  voice  in  a 
cry  of  warning.  It  is  perhaps  equally  human  for  the 
scientist  who  has  likewise  drawn  from  his  work,  and  with- 
out the  aid  of  the  classical  education,  inspiration  and  pleas- 
ure and  appreciation  of  the  beautiful,  to  lose  patience  with 
the  claims  of  superior  excellence  advanced  for  the  classical 
training.  Is  it  not  time,  however,  for  educators  to  borrow  a 
page  from  one  another's  experience,  and  to  recognize  once 
for  all  that  the  desirable  qualities  that  we  class  under  the 
head  of  education  and  culture  are  not  produced  in  different 
minds  by  identical  processes?  May  we  not  welcome  every 
new  field  of  knowledge  and  recognize  its  power  for  training 
youth?  May  we  not  look  upon  it  as  some  new  tool  in 
our  workshop  by  means  of  which  we  may  be  able  to  reach 
some  minds  that  it  has  been  impossible  to  reach  with  the 
old  implements? 

This  joining  of  hands  upon  the  part  of  educators  will  re- 
quire some  exercise  of  culture,  some  **  power  to  see  with  a 
free  and  disengaged  look  every  object."  We  must  make 
some  effort  in  order  to  understand  one  another.  We  must 
remember  that  our  estimate  of  the  relative  importance  of 


The  Gospel  of  Worh  13 

things  is  largely  a  result  of  our  point  of  view,  and  that  the 
same  things  appear  quite  differently  froni  different  points  of 
view. 

Human  knowledge  has  now  vastly  outgrown  the  grasp  of 
any  single  mind  ;  ignorant  in  some  departments  of  knowl- 
edge the  most  scholarly  and  the  most  industrious  must  re- 
main, and  that  without  shame.  Let  no  one  deceive  himself 
with  a  superficial  omniscience.  The  next  best  thing  to 
knowing  a  thing  well  is  to  know  that  we  do  not  knoW  it. 

Why  should  educators  waste  time  and  energy  in  trying  to 
compare  the  values  of  different  forms  of  knowledge,  when 
their  lack  of  omniscience  renders  them  incapable  of  forming 
just  judgments?  Our  own  specialty  is  obviously  to  each  of 
us  the  most  important  form  of  knowledge  ;  let  us  show  this 
faith  that  we  have  in  our  specialty  not  by  criticising  or 
ridiculing  other  forms  of  knowledge  which  we  are  incapable 
of  understanding,  not  by  hindering  and  checking  the 
growth  of  other  things,  but  rather  by  advancing  that 
specialty  to  our  utmost  by  honest  work  and  earnest  en- 
deavor. 

Many  of  the  faults  ascribed  to  over-education  and  its  un- 
fitting of  people  for  their  true  spheres  in  life  can  be  directly 
traced  to  the  undue  importance  which  has  in  the  past  been 
attributed  to  particular  forms  of  knowledge  and  activity 
and  to  a  consequent  implied  degradation  inflicted  upon 
equally  meritorious  forms  of  knowledge  and  activity. 
Aristotle's  dictum  that  "  all  manual  work  is  degrading," 
that  "  all  paid  employments  are  vulgar,"  has  cost  the  world 
dear  by  the  long  maintaining  of  false  ideals. 

Slowly,  however,  more  just  views  are  prevailing,  and  al- 
ready the  men  who  do  the  world's  work  are  meeting  with  the 
esteem  due  them  from  all  right-minded  persons. 

The  student  who  is  graduated  from  a  university  where  he 
has  had  large  freedom  of  choice  in  the  selection  of  his  studies 
has  less  excuse  for  remaining  uneducated  than  one  who  has 
been  forced  through  a  prescribed  curriculum,  much  of  which 
may  have  possessed  no  interest  for  him.    Upon  you,  therefore 


14  The  Gospel  of  Worl. 

as  graduates  of  Stanford,  rests  the  increased  responsibility 
of  proving  yourselves  to  be  educated  men  and  women. 
It  may  safely  be  assumed  that  a  considerable  majority  of 
you  have  formed  the  habit  of  work,  that  you  have  accumu- 
lated a  fund  of  useful  information,  and  that  in  accumulat- 
ing it  you  have  learned  how  knowledge  is  obtained.  You 
are  then  prepared  to  walk  on  your  own  feet  and  to  think 
your  own  thoughts.  But  no  one  supposes  that  your  edu- 
cation is  ended.  If  that  were  the  case  this  would  have  been 
called  "Ending  Day"  instead  of  "Commencement  Day." 

In  closing,  I  will,  if  I  may,  leave  with  you  this  short  pre- 
scription for  happiness  :  Choose  your  life-work  with  care, 
with  deliberation,  if  need  be ;  but  when  it  is  chosen,  enter 
upon  it  with  zeal.  Let  your  attitude  toward  your  work  be 
such  as  was  recently  advised  by  President  Hadley  from 
this  platform,  "Not  how  much  you  can  get  out  of  it,  but 
rather  how  much  you  can  put  into  it."  Be  not  over- 
particular about  the  importance  of  your  first  position  —  the 
important  thing  is  not  where  you  begin  but  where  you  end. 
At  first  the  chief  thing  is  to  begin.  Do  not  flatter  yourself 
or  discourage  yourself  by  comparing  your  own  progress 
with  the  progress  of  your  neighbor  or  your  friend,  but  rather 
live  up  to  your  own  best  all  of  the  time,  and  that  best  will 
constantly  grow  better  and  your  progress  and  ultimate 
success  will  take  care  of  themselves.  Fix  your  eyes  upon 
the  advantages  that  you  have,  rather  than  upon  those  that 
you  have  not. 

Finally,  "Look  forward,  not  backward;  look  up,  not 
down  ;  and  lend  a  hand." 


LELAND    STANFORD'S   VIEWS   ON   HIGHER 
EDUCATION. 

David  Starr  Jordan. 

It  is  my  pleasant  duty  once  again  to  welcome  a  body  of 
young  men  and  young  women  into  the  ever-widening  circle 
of  Stanford  Alumni,  now  after  ten  years  numbering  1402. 
The  certificates  I  have  just  placed  in  your  hands  testify  to 
our  confidence  in  your  ability  and  your  purposes.  In  our 
eyes,  you,  like  those  who  have  passed  before  you,  are  youth 
of  promise.  We  have  done  the  best  we  know  in  aiding  you 
in  your  preparation  for  usefulness.  The  rest  lies  in  your 
own  hands. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  the  joys  we  call  academic  is  that  of 
looking  into  the  eyes  of  young  men  and  young  women  with 
the  feeling  that  some  small  part  at  least  of  their  strength  is 
the  work  of  our  own  minds  and  hearts.  Something  of  the 
teacher  we  see  in  the  student,  and,  from  master  to  pupil, 
there  is  a  chain  of  heredity  as  real,  if  not  as  literally  exact, 
as  the  bodily  likeness  that  runs  in  the  blood. 

To  the  founder  of  a  university  a  kindred  satisfaction  is 
given,  and  not  for  a  day  or  a  period  only,  but  for  *'  chang- 
ing cycles  of  years."  It  is  his  part  to  exchange  gold  for 
abundance  of  life.  It  is  his  to  work  mightily  in  the  affairs 
of  men  centuries  after  his  personal  opinions  and  influence 
are  forgotten.  The  moral  value  of  the  possession  of  wealth 
lies  in  the  use  to  which  it  is  put.  There  can  be  no  better 
use  than  that  of  making  young  men  and  women  wise  and 
clean  and  strong. 

Of  this  right  use  of  money  your  lives  and  mine  have 
been  in  large  degree  a  product.  This  fact  gives  me  the 
theme  of  my  discourse  this  morning,  the  work  of  Leland 


16  Leland  Stanford's   Views 

Stanford  Junior  University  as  it  existed  in  the  mind  of  the 
founder  before  teachers  or  students  came  to  Palo  Alto  to 
make  it  real. 

Our  university  is  now  just  ten  years  old.  Of  all  founda- 
tions in  America  it  is  the  youngest  save  one,  the  University 
of  Chicago.  Yet  as  universities  go,  in  our  New  World,  it 
has  attained  its  majority.  It  is  old  enough  to  have  a  char- 
acter and  to  be  judged  by  it. 

For  the  broad  principles  of  education  all  universities 
stand,  but  each  one  works  out  its  function  in  its  own  fash- 
ion. It  is  this  fashion,  this  turn  of  method,  which  sets  off 
one  from  another,  which  gives  each  its  individual  character. 
What  this  character  shall  be  no  one  force  can  determine. 
Its  final  course  is  a  resultant  of  the  initial  impulse,  the 
ideals  it  develops,  and  the  resistance  of  its  surroundings. 
No  one  influence  can  control  the  final  outcome.  No  one 
will  can  determine  the  result,  where  a  thousand  other  wills 
are  also  active.  Nor  is  the  environment  finally  potent. 
Environment  is  inert,  except  as  the  individual  wills  are  pit- 
ted against  it. 

In  our  own  university  the  initial  impulse  came  from  the 
heart  and  brain  of  Leland  Stanford.  The  ideals  it  has 
upheld  were  his  before  they  were  ours.  They  had  been 
carefully  wrought  out  in  his  mind  before  he  called  like- 
minded  men  to  his  service  to  carry  them  into  action.  It  is 
well  once  in  a  while  to  recall  this  fact. 

I  need  not  repeat  the  story  of  Mr.  Stanford's  life.  He 
was  long  the  most  conspicuous  public  man  of  California. 
He  was  her  war  governor,  wise  and  patient,  and  respected 
of  all  men  before  his  railroad  enterprises  made  him  the 
wealthiest  citizen  of  the  state.  His  wide  popularity,  the 
influence,  personal  and  political,  which  he  acquired,  did  not 
arise  from  his  wealth.  Wealth,  influence,  and  popularity 
sprang  alike  from  his  personal  qualities,  his  persistence,  his 
integrity,  his  long-headedness,  and  his  simplicity,  which 
kept  him  always  in  touch  with  the  people.  "  He  was  active," 
it  was  said,  "  when  other  men  were  idle ;  he  was  generous 


On  Higher  Education.  17 

when  others  were  grasping  ;  he  was  lofty  when  other  men 
were  base."  He  was  in  all  relations  of  life  thoroughly  a 
man,  and  of  that  type  —  simple,  earnest,  courageous, 
effective —  which  we  like  to  call  American. 

The  need  to  train  his  own  son  first  turned  his  thoughts 
to  educational  matters.  His  early  acquaintance  with  Pro- 
fessor Agassiz,  perhaps  the  greatest  of  American  teachers, 
helped  to  direct  these  thoughts  into  channels  of  wisdom. 
From  Agaasiz  he  derived  a  realizing  sense  of  the  possibili- 
ties of  human  knowledge  and  the  impelling  force  of  man's 
intellectual  needs, —  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  truth  which 
only  the  student  knows.  "  Man's  physical  needs  are  slight," 
he  said,  "  but  his  intellectual  needs  are  bounded  only  by  his 
capacity  to  conceive."  In  the  darkness  of  bereavement  the 
thought  came  to  Mr.  Stanford  that  the  duty  of  his  life 
should  be  to  carry  his  plans  of  educating  his  own  son  into 
effect  for  the  sons  of  others.  After  the  long  vigil  of  a  dreary 
night  he  awoke  with  these  words  on  his  lips  :  "The  children 
of  California  shall  be  my  children."  And  with  character- 
istic energy  he  made  this  vision  fact.  Articles  of  endowment 
were  drawn  up,  lands  and  buildings  and  teachers  were  pro- 
vided, and  on  the  first  day  of  October,  1891,  the  new 
university  opened  its  doors  to  the  children  of  California,  and 
to  those  of  the  rest  of  the  world  as  well. 

With  all  bright  auspices  of  earth  and  sky,  of  hope  and 
purpose,  of  wealth  and  generosity,  the  new  university  began. 
In  its  history  all  who  are  here  to-day  have  taken  some  part. 
With  many  of  us  it  represents  the  best  portion  of  our  lives. 
Of  this  I  do  not  now  wish  to  speak,  but  rather  to  discuss  the 
original  impulse  of  the  founder.  What  was  Leland  Stan- 
ford's idea  of  a  university,  its  work  and  life? 

We  learn,  first,  that  he  would  leave  the  university  free  to 
grow  with  the  coming  ages.  He  would  extend  no  dead 
hand  from  the  grave  to  limit  its  activities  or  to  control  its 
movements.  The  deed  of  gift  is  in  favor  of  education  pure 
and  simple.  It  has  no  hampering  clause,  and  the  only 
end  in  view  is  that  of  the  help  of  humanity  through   the 


18  Leland  Stanford's   Views 

extension  of  knowledge.  "  We  hope,"  he  said,  "  that  this 
institution  will  endure  through  long  ages.  Provisions 
regarding  details  of  management,  however  wise  they  may  be 
at  present,  might  prove  to  be  mischievous  under  conditions 
which  may  arise  in  the  future." 

As  a  practical  man  accustomed  to  go  to  the  heart  of 
things,  Mr.  Stanford  had  little  respect  for  educational  mil- 
linery and  for  the  conventionalities  which  have  grown  up 
about  the  great  institutions  of  the  Old  World.  He  saw 
clearly  the  value  of  thoroughness,  the  need  of  freedom,  the 
individuality  of  development,  but  cared  little  for  the  machin- 
ery by  which  these  ends  were  achieved.  So  it  was  decreed 
that  the  new  university  should  be  simple  in  its  organization, 
with  only  those  details  of  structure  which  the  needs  of  the 
times  should  develop  within  it.  If  it  must  have  precedents 
and  traditions,  it  must  make  its  own.  *'  I  would  have  this 
institution,"  he  said,  "help  to  fit  men  and  women  for  use- 
fulness in  this  life,  by  increasing  their  individual  power  of 
production,  and  by  making  them  good  company  for  them- 
selves and  others." 

A  friend  once  argued  with  him  that  there  is  already  too 
much  education,  and  that  to  increase  it  further  is  simply  to 
swell  the  volume  of  discontent.  "I  insisted,"  Mr.  Stanford 
said,  "that  there  cannot  be  too  much  education,  any  more 
than  too  much  health  or  intelligence.  Do  you  happen  to 
know  any  man  who  has  been  too  well  educated?  Where  does 
he  live?  What  is  his  address  ?  If  you  cannot  find  such  a  man, 
you  cannot  speak  of  over-education."  There  has  been  un- 
wise education,  or  misfit  education.  Some  highly  educated 
men  are  neither  wise  nor  fit,  and  there  is  a  kind  of  educa- 
tion that  comes  from  experience  and  not  from  books.  But 
with  all  tfeis,  too  thorough  or  too  good  a  training  no  one 
ever  had.  Ignorance  is  shadow.  Education  is  light.  Noth- 
ing is  more  unpractical  than  darkness,  nothing  is  more 
practical  than  sunshine. 

Mr.  Stanford  believed  that  no  educational  system  could 
be  complete  in  which   entrance   to   the   university  was  a 


On  Higher  Education.  19 

detached  privilege  of  the  chosen  few.  He  believed  in  the 
unbroken  ladder  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  university,  a 
ladder  that  each  one  should  be  free  to  climb,  as  far  as  his 
ability  or  energy  should  permit.  He  believed,  with  Ian 
Maclaren,  in  keeping  the  path  well-trodden  from  the  farm- 
house to  the  university.  He  asked  that  this  sentence  be 
placed  on  the  University  Register:  "A  generous  education 
is  the  birthright  of  every  man  and  woman  in  America."  In 
Emerson's  words,  "  America  means  opportunity,"  and  op- 
portunity comes  through  training  to  receive  it.  To  have 
such  training  is  to  be  truly  free  born,  and  this  is  the  birth- 
right of  each  child  of  the  republic. 

Science  is  knowledge  tested  and  set  in  order,  and  each 
advance  in  knowledge  carries  with  it  a  corresponding  incre- 
ment of  power.  A  machine  to  Mr.  Stanford  was  not  a  mere 
saver  of  labor,  but  an  aid  to  labor,  increasing  its  eflBciency 
and  therefore  adding  to  the  value  of  men.  By  greater 
knowledge  of  the  forces  of  nature  we  acquire  greater  skill  in 
turning  these  forces  into  man's  service  through  the  harness 
of  machinery.  In  increase  of  scientific  knowledge  he  found 
the  secret  of  human  power.  An  education  which  does  not 
disclose  the  secret  of  power  is  unworthy  of  the  name.  "  We 
may  always  advance  toward  the  infinite,"  was  a  favorite 
saying  of  his.  He  could  find  no  limit  to  the  development 
of  civilization.  The  possibilities  of  human  progress  ex- 
pressed to  him  the  measure  of  infinite  goodness.  In  his 
own  words,  "The  beneficence  of  the  Creator  toward  man  on 
earth,  and  the  possibilities  of  humanity,  are  one  and  the 
same." 

But  in  his  forecast  of  the  myriad  triumphs  of  applied 
science,  he  did  not  forget  that  knowledge  itself  must  precede 
any  use  man  can  make  of  it.  Pure  science  must  always  go 
before  applied  science.  The  higher  forms  of  thought  have 
their  place  in  mental  growth  as  necessities  in  the  concrete 
preparation  for  action. 

In  the  new  university  he  decreed  that  "the  work  in  ap- 
plied sciences  shall  be  carried  on  side  by  side  with  that  in 


20  Leland  Stanford's   Views 

the  pure  sciences  and  the  humanitiesj  and  that,  so  far  as 
may  be,  all  lines  of  work  included  in  the  plan  of  the  uni- 
versity shall  be  equally  fostered." 

No  other  university  has  recognized  so  distinctly  the  ab- 
solute democracy  of  knowledge.  The  earlier  traditions  of 
Cornell  pointed  in  this  direction,  and  for  this  reason  Mr. 
Stanford  found  in  Cornell,  rather  than  in  Harvard,  Yale, 
Johns  Hopkins,  or  Michigan,  the  nearest  existing  approach 
to  his  own  ideal.  It  was  Ezra  Cornell's  hope  "  to  found  an 
institution  where  any  person  could  find  instruction  in  any 
study."  Cornell  and  Stanford,  in  so  far  as  they  are  loyal 
to  these  traditions,  know  neither  favored  students  nor 
favored  studies.  No  class  of  men  are  chosen  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  others,  and  no  class  of  studies  is  given  a  fallacious 
importance  through  force  of  academic  pressure  or  through 
inertia  of  academic  tradition.  While  various  kinds  of 
knowledge  are  of  varying  worth  to  different  persons,  each 
has  its  own  value  to  the  world,  and  the  value  to  the  indi- 
vidual must  be  determined  in  each  case  by  itself.  The  uni- 
versity should  be  no  respecter  of  persons.  It  is  not  called 
on  to  approve  or  condemn  the  various  orders  of  genius  that 
come  to  it  for  training.  There  has  been  no  greater  hin- 
drance to  educational  progress  than  the  hierarchy  of  studies, 
the  fiction  that  certain  kinds  of  work  had  an  invisible 
value  not  to  be  measured  by  tangible  results. 

Mr.  Stanford  shared  with  Agassiz  the  idea  that  the  es- 
sential part  of  education  was  a  thorough  knowledge  of  some 
one  thing,  so  firmly  held  as  to  be  effective  for  practical  re- 
sults. He  believed  in  early  choice  of  profession,  in  so  far 
as  early  choice  could  be  wise  choice.  The  course  of  study, 
however  broad  and  however  long,  should  in  all  its  parts 
look  toward  the  final  end  of  effective  life.  The  profession 
chosen  early  gives  a  purpose  and  stimulus,  to  all  the  inter- 
mediate courses  of  training.  He  saw  clearly  the  need  of 
individualism  in  education,  and  that  courses  of  study 
should  be  built  around  the  individual  man  as  he  is.  The 
supposed  needs  of  the  average  man  as  developed  by  a  consen- 


On  Higher  Education.  21 

8U8  of  educational  philosophers  do  not  suffice  for  the  actual 
man  as  he  is  in  actual  life.  We  must  be  fed  with  the  food 
that  is  good  for  us.  It  is  for  us  that  it  must  be  adapted, 
not  for  some  average  man  in  some  average  age.  The  ready- 
made  curriculum  belongs  to  the  same  category  as  ready- 
made  clothing.  It  is  something  cheap  and  easy,  for  the 
man  without  individual  needs. 

Mr.  Stanford's  belief  that  literature  and  engineering 
should  be  pursued  side  by  side  was  shown  by  his  wish  to 
provide  for  both  with  equal  generosity.  And  the  students 
of  each  are  the  gainers  by  this  relation.  The  devotee  of 
classical  culture  is  strengthened  by  his  association  with  men 
to  whom  their  college  work  is  part  of  the  serious  duty  of 
life.  The  student  of  engineering  stands  with  both  feet  on 
the  ground.  His  success  in  life  depends  on  the  exactness 
of  his  knowledge  of  machinery  and  of  the  basic  principles 
of  mechanics  and  mathematics.  He  must  be  in  dead  ear- 
nest if  he  would  succeed  at  all.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
student  of  realities  gains  by  his  association  with  the  poet, 
the  philosopher,  and  the  artist.  The  finer  aspects  of  life 
are  brought  to  his  notice,  and  from  this  association  results 
tolerance  and  breadth  of  sympathy. 

That  women  should  receive  higher  education  as  well  as 
men  was  an  axiom  to  Mr.  Stanford.  Coeducation  was 
taken  for  granted  from  the  first,  and  the  young  women  of 
Stanford  have  never  had  to  question  the  friendliness  of 
their  welcome.  '*  We  have  provided,"  Mr.  Stanford  says, 
"in  the  articles  of  endowment,  that  the  education  of  the 
sexes  shall  be  equal — deeming  it  of  special  importance  that 
those  who  are  to  be  the  mothers  of  a  future  generation  shall 
be  fitted  to  mold  and  direct  the  infantile  mind  at  its  most 
critical  period." 

The  leading  argument  for  coeducation  is  akin  to  the  one 
just  indicated  for  the  union  in  one  institution  of  the  various 
lines  of  literature,  art,  science,  and  applied  technology. 

In  women's  education,  as  planned  for  women  alone,  the 
tendency  is  toward  the  study  of  beauty  and  order.  Literature 


22  Leland  Stanford's   Views 

and  language  take  precedence  over  science.  Expression 
is  valued  more  highly  than  action.  In  carrying  this  to 
an  extreme,  the  necessary  relation  of  thought  to  action 
becomes  obscured.  The  scholarship  developed  tends  to  be 
ineffective,  because  it  is  not  related  to  life.  The  educated 
woman  is  likely  to  master  technique,  rather  than  art; 
method,  rather  than  substance.  She  may  know  a  good 
deal,  but  be  able  to  do  nothing.  Often  her  views  of  life 
must  undergo  painful  changes  before  she  can  find  her  place 
in  the  world. 

In  schools  for  men  alone,  the  reverse  condition  often  ob- 
tains. The  sense  of  reality  obscures  the  elements  of  beauty 
and  fitness.  It  is  of  great  advantage  to  both  men  and  wo- 
men to  meet  on  a  plane  of  equality  in  education.  Women 
are  brought  into  contact  with  men  who  can  do  things — men 
in  whom  the  sense  of  reality  is  strong,  and  who  have  defi- 
nite views  in  life.  This  influence  affects  them  for  good.  It 
turns  them  away  from  sentimentalism.  It  is  opposed  to 
unwholesome  forms  of  hysterical  friendship.  It  gives  tone 
to  their  religious  thoughts  and  impulses.  Above  all,  it 
tends  to  encourage  action  governed  by  ideals,  as  opposed  to 
that  resting  on  caprice.  It  gives  them  better  standards  of 
what  is  possible  and  impossible,  when  the  responsibility  for 
action  is  thrown  upon  them. 

In  like  manner,  the  association  with  wise,  sane,  and  healthy 
women  has  its  value  for  young  men.  This  value  has  never 
been  fully  realized,  even  by  the  strongest  advocates  of  coedu- 
cation. It  raises  their  ideal  of  womanhood,  and  the  highest 
manhood  must  be  associated  with  such  an  ideal. 

It  was  the  idea  of  the  founders  that  each  student  should 
be  taught  the  value  of  economy, —  that  lavish  expenditures 
bring  neither  happiness  nor  success.  "  A  student,"  it  was 
said  by  one  of  the  founders,  ^'  will  be  better  fitted  to  battle 
with  the  trials  and  tribulations  of  life,  if  he  (or  she)  has 
been  taught  the  worth  of  money,  the  necessity  of  saving, 
and  of  overcoming  a  desire  to  imitate  those  who  are  better 
off  in  the  world's  goods.     For,  when  he  has  learned  how  to 


On  Higher  Education,  23 

save  and  how  to  control  inordinate  desires,  he  will  be  rela- 
tively rich.  During  the  past  three  and  a  half  years  of  close 
observation  on  my  part,  the  importance  of  economy  has  im- 
pressed itself  forcibly  upon  me,  and  I  wish  it  to  be  taught 
to  all  students  of  the  university.  Nature  has  made  the 
surroundings  of  the  university  beautiful,  and  the  substan- 
tial character  of  the  buildings  gives  them  an  appearance  of 
luxury.  I  wish  this  natural  beauty  and  comparative  lux- 
ury to  impress  upon  the  students  the  necessity  of  their 
preservation  for  the  generations  that  are  to  follow.  The 
lesson  thus  taught  will  remain  with  them  through  life  and 
help  them  to  teach  the  lesson  to  others.  The  university 
buildings  and  grounds  are  for  their  use  while  students,  in 
trust  for  students  to  come." 

The  value  of  the  study  of  political  and  social  science  as  a 
remedy  for  defects  of  government  was  clearly  seen  by  Mr. 
Stanford.  "All  governments,"  he  said,  "are  governments 
by  public  opinion,  and  in  the  long  run  every  people  is  as 
well  governed  as  it  deserves."  Hence  increase  of  knowledge 
brings  about  better  government.  For  help  in  such  matters 
the  people  have  a  right  to  look  to  their  universities  and 
university  men.  It  was  his  theory  that  the  art  of  govern- 
ment is  still  in  its  infancy.  "  Legislation  has  not,  as  a  rule, 
been  against  the  people,  but  it  has  failed  to  do  all  the  good 
it  might."  "  No  greater  blow  can  be  struck  at  labor  than 
that  which  renders  its  products  insecure."  In  the  ex- 
tension of  voluntary  cooperation  he  saw  a  remedy  for  many 
present  ills,  as  he  saw  in  the  law  of  mutual  help  the  essence 
of  our  Christian  civilization.  He  said,  in  laying  the  corner- 
stone :  "  Out  of  these  suggestions  grows  the  consideration  of 
the  great  advantages,  especially  to  the  laboring  man,  of 
cooperation,  by  which  each  individual  has  the  benefit  of  the 
intellectual  and  physical  forces  of  his  associates.  It  is  by 
the  intelligent  application  of  these  principles  that  there  will 
be  found  the  greatest  lever  to  elevate  the  mass  of  humanity, 
and  laws  should  be  formed  to  protect  and  develop  coopera- 
tive associations.     .     .     .     They  will  accomplish  all  that  is 


24  Leland  Stanford's   Views 

sought  to  be  secured  by  labor  leagues,  trades  unions,  and 
other  federations  of  workmen,  and  will  be  free  from  the  ob- 
jection of  even  impliedly  attempting  to  take  the  unauthor- 
ized or  wrongful  control  of  the  property,  capital,  or  time  of 
others." 

One  result  of  voluntary  cooperation,  in  Mr.  Stanford's 
view,  would  be  the  development  of  the  spirit  of  loyalty,  the 
most  precious  tribute  of  the  laboring  man  in  any  grade,  in 
any  field,  to  the  interest  or  cause  which  he  serves.  One 
great  evil  of  the  present  era  of  gigantic  industrial  organiza- 
tions is  that  it  takes  no  account  of  the  spirit  of  loyalty, 
without  which  no  man  can  do  his  best  work.  The  huge 
trust  does  away  with  the  feeling  of  personal  association. 
The  equally  huge  trades  union,  in  many  of  its  operations, 
strikes  directly  at  the  personality  of  the  individual  workman. 
It  makes  him  merely  a  pawn  to  be  moved  hither  and 
thither  in  the  current  of  industrial  war.  In  the  long  run, 
no  enterprise  can  flourish,  unless  those  who  carry  it  on 
throw  themselves,  heart  and  soul,  into  its  service.  On  the 
other  hand,  no  one  can  do  a  greater  injury  to  the  cause  of 
labor  than  to  take  loyalty  out  of  the  category  of  working 
virtues.  It  is  one  of  the  traditional  good  traits  of  the 
healthy  college  man  to  be  loyal  to  his  college.  This  virtue 
Mr.  Stanford  would  have  cultivated  in  all  effective  ways, 
ahd  in  loyalty  on  both  sides  he  would  find  a  practical  so- 
lution of  most  of  the  labor  troubles  of  to-day.  That  he 
carried  his  ideas  into  his  own  practice  is  shown  by  the  un- 
flinching devotion  of  all  his  own  employees  of  whatever 
grade  throughout  his  life.  They  were  taught  to  believe  in 
him,  to  believe  in  the  worth  of  their  own  work,  and  thus  to 
have  respect  for  themselves.  Much  of  the  discontent  of 
the  day  has  its  origin  in  lack  of  self-respect.  The  pawn 
that  is  moved  in  the  game  of  sympathetic  strike  has  no  con- 
trol over  his  own  actions,  and  therefore  no  respect  for  his 
own  motives.  The  development  of  intelligent,  voluntary  co- 
operation, in  the  long  run,  must  make  the  workman  more 
than  a  machine.     If  he  is  such,  in  the  long  run  again,  he 


071  Higher  Education.  26 

will  receive  whatever  he  deserves.     He  will  be  a  factor  in 
civilization,  which  the  unskilled,  unthinking  laborer  is  not. 

The  great  economic  waste  in  labor  often  engaged  Mr.  Stan- 
ford's attention,  and  he  found  its  remedy  in  education. 
**Once,"  he  said,  "the  great  struggle  of  labor  was  to  supply 
the  necessities  of  life  ;  now  but  a  small  portion  of  our  people 
are  so  engaged.  Food,  clothing,  and  shelter  are  common  in 
our  country  to  every  provident  person,  excepting,  of  course, 
in  occasional  accidental  cases.  The  great  demand  for  labor 
is  to  supply  what  may  be  termed  intellectual  wants,  to 
which  there  is  no  limit,  except  that  of  intelligence  to  con- 
ceive. If  all  the  relations  and  obligations  of  man  were 
properly  understood,  it  would  not  be  necessary  for  people 
to  make  a  burden  of  labor.  The  great  masses  of  the  toilers 
now  are  compelled  to  perform  such  an  amount  of  labor  as 
makes  life  often  wearisome.  An  intelligent  system  of  edu- 
cation would  correct  this  inequality.  It  would  make  the 
humblest  laborer's  work  more  valuable,  it  would  increase 
both  the  demand  and  supply  for  skilled  labor,  and  reduce 
the  number  of  the  non-producing  class.  It  would  dignify 
labor,  and  ultimately  would  go  far  to  wipe  out  the  mere 
distinctions  of  wealth  and  ancestry.  It  would  achieve  a 
bloodless  revolution  and  establish  a  republic  of  industry, 
merit,  and  learning. 

"  How  near  to  that  state  we  may  be,  or  how  far  from  it, 
we  cannot  now  tell.  It  seems  very  far  when  we  con- 
template the  great  standing  armies  of  Europe,  where  over  five 
millions  of  men  (or  about  one  for  every  twelve  adult  males) 
are  marching  about  with  guns  on  their  shoulders  to  preserve 
the  peace  of  the  nations,  while  hovering  near  them  is  an 
•innumerable  force  of  police  to  preserve  the  peace  of  individ- 
uals ;  but  when  we  remember  the  possibilities  of  civilization 
and  the  power  of  education,  we  can  foresee  a  time  when 
these  soldiers  and  policemen  shall  be  changed  to  useful,  pro- 
ducing citizens,  engaged  in  lifting  the  burdens  of  the  people 
instead  of  increasing  them.  And  yet,  extravagant  as  are 
the  nations  of  Europe  in  standing  armies  and  preparations 


26  Leland  Stanford's   Views 

for  war,  their  extravagance  in  the  waste  of  labor  is  still 
greater.  Education,  by  teaching  the  intelligent  use  of  ma- 
chinery, is  the  only  remedy  for  such  waste," 

That  the  work  of  the  university  should  be  essentially 
specialized,  fitting  the  individual  for  definite  forms  of 
higher  usefulness,  was  an  idea  constantly  present  with  Mr. 
Stanford.  He  had  no  interest  in  general  education  as  an  end 
in  itself.  He  had  no  desire  to  fit  men  for  the  life  of  leisure, 
or  for  any  life  which  did  not  involve  a  close  adaptation  of 
means  to  ends. 

That  the  new  university  would  in  time  attract  great  num- 
bers of  students,  Mr.  Stanford  believed  as  a  matter  of  course, 
although  he  found  few  California  teachers  who  shared  his 
optimism.  But  he  was  never  deceived  with  the  cheap  test 
of  numbers  in  estimating  the  value  of  institutions.  He 
knew  that  a  few  hundred  men  well  trained  and  under 
high  influences  would  count  for  more  than  as  many 
thousands,  hurried  in  droves  over  a  ready-made  curriculum 
by  young  tutors,  themselves  scarcely  out  of  college.  So  it 
was  decreed  that  numbers  for  numbers'  sake  should  never 
be  a  goal  of  Stanford  University.  And  he  further  made  the 
practical  request  that  not  one  dollar  directly  or  indirectly 
should  be  spent  in  advertising.  The  university  has  no 
goods  for  which  it  is  anxious  to  find  customers. 

Mr.  Stanford  insisted  as  a  vital  principle  that  the  univer- 
sity exists  for  the  benefit  of  its  students,  present,  past,  and 
future.  It  has  no  existence  or  function  save  as  an  instru- 
ment of  education.  To  this  principle  all  others  should  be 
subordinate.  In  his  opening  address  Mr.  Stanford  said  to 
the  students  of  the  Pioneer  Class  :  "  You  are  the  most  im- 
portant factor  in  this  university.  It  is  for  your  benefit  that 
it  has  been  established." 

The  greatest  need  of  the  student  is  the  teacher.  Mr.  Stan- 
ford said  :  "  In  order  that  the  president  may  have  the  as- 
sistance of  a  competent  staff  of  professors,  we  have  pro- 
vided that  the  best  talent  obtainable  shall  be  procured  and 
that  liberal  compensation  shall  always  be  offered."     Again 


On  Higher  Education.  27 

he  said:  "Ample  endowment  may  have  been  provided, 
intelligent  management  may  secure  large  income,  students 
may  present  themselves  in  numbers,  but  in  the  end  the 
faculty  makes  or  mars  the  university." 

Compared  with  the  character  of  the  faculty  every  other 
element  in  the  university  is  of  relatively  little  importance. 
Great  teachers  make  a  university  great.  The  great  teacher 
must  always  leave  a  great  mark  on  every  youth  with  whom 
he  comes  in  contact.  The  chief  duty  of  the  college  president 
is  the  choice  of  teachers.  If  he  has  learned  the  art  of  sur- 
rounding himself  with  men  who  are  clean,  sane,  and 
scholarly,  all  other  matters  of  university  administration 
will  take  care  of  themselves.  He  cannot  fail  if  he  has  good 
men  around  him.  And  in  the  choice  of  teachers  the  ele- 
ment of  personal  sanity  seemed  of  first  importance  to  Mr. 
Stanford, — the  ability  to  see  things  as  they  are.  The  uni- 
versity chair  should  be  a  center  of  clear  seeing  from  which 
right  acting  should  radiate. 

That  the  university  should  be  a  center  of  cooperating  re- 
search was  a  vital  element  in  Mr.  Stanford's  plans.  A 
man  content  with  the  truth  that  now  is,  and  without  ambi- 
tion to  venture  into  the  unknown,  should  not  hold  the  chair 
of  a  university  professor.  The  incentive  for  research  should 
be  within,  not  without.  Its  motive  should  be  not  the  de- 
sire of  individual  fame  but  the  love  of  knowledge. 

In  proportion  to  the  extent  to  which  it  widens  the  range  of 
human  knowledge  and  of  human  power,  in  that  degree  does 
an  institution  deserve  the  name  of  university.  The  value  of 
its  original  work  is  the  best  single  test  by  which  a  university 
may  be  judged ;  and  as  it  is  the  best,  so  is  it  also  the 
severest. 

In  its  public  relations,  the  university  stands  for  infinite 
patience,  the  calm  testing  of  ideas  and  ideals.  It  conducts 
no  propaganda,  it  controls  no  affairs  of  business  or  of  public 
action.  It  is  the  judge  of  the  principles  of  wisdom  and  the 
ways  of  nature.  The  details  of  action  it  must  leave  to  men 
whose  business  it  is  to  guide  the  currents  of  the  moment. 


28  Leland  Stanford's   Views 

When  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University  was  founded 
it  was  provided  that  in  its  religious  life,  as  in  its  scientific 
investigations,  it  should  be  wholly  free  from  outside  control. 
No  religious  sect  or  organization  and  no  group  of  organiza- 
tions should  have  dominion  over  it.  The  university  should 
exist  for  its  own  sake,  to  carry  out  its  own  purposes,  and  to 
bring  out  its  own  results  in  its  own  way. 

In  this  regard  the  die  is  cast,  once  for  all.  The  choice  of 
the  founders  of  the  university  was  deliberate  and  final.  They 
chose  the  path  of  intellectual  and  religious  freedom,  in  the 
very  interest  of  religion  itself.  Religion  is  devotion  in  ac- 
tion. In  its  higher  reaches  it  must  be  individual,  because 
it  is  a  function  of  the  individual  soul  which  must  stand  in 
perpetual  protest  against  the  religion  that  finds  its  end  in 
forms  and  ceremonies  and  organizations. 

Religion  must  form  the  axis  of  personal  character,  and  its 
prime  importance  the  university  cannot  ignore.  To  at- 
tain its  culture  it  may  use  indirect  rather  than  direct 
means,  the  influence  of  effort  and  character  rather  than  the 
imposition  of  forms.  To  accept  ecclesiastical  help  is  to  in- 
vite ecclesiastical  control  toward  ecclesiastical  ends.  In 
the  Grant  of  Endowment  it  was  required  that  the  trustees 
should  '  prohibit  sectarian  instruction,  but  have  taught 
in  the  university  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  existence 
of  an  all-wise  and  benevolent  Creator,  and  obedience  to 
his  laws  as  the  highest  duty  of  man.' 

This  requirement  was  a  simple  reflection  of  Mr.  Stanford's 
own  religious  character,  as  expressed  in  the  words  of  one 
very  near  to  him  :  "  If  a  firm  belief  in  a  beneficent  Creator, 
a  profound  admiration  for  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  his  teach- 
ings, and  the  certainty  of  a  personal  life  hereafter,  consti- 
tute religion,  then  Leland  Stanford  was  a  religious  man. 
The  narrow  walls  of  a  creed  could  not  confine  him  ;  there- 
fore he  was  not  a  professed  member  of  any  church,  for  in 
each  confession  of  faith  he  found  something  to  which  he 
could  not  subscribe.  But  for  the  principles  of  religion  he 
had  a  profound  veneration  ;  in  his  heart  were  the  true  senti- 


On  Higher  Education.  29 

ments  of  Christianity,  and  he  often  said  that  in  his  opinion 
the  Golden  Rule  was  the  corner-stone  of  all  true  religion." 

The  founders  believed  truly  that  freedom  of  thought  and 
action  would  promote  morality  and  religion,  that  a  deeper, 
fuller  religious  life  would  arise  from  the  growth  of  the  in- 
dividual, that  only  where  the  *'  winds  of  freedom  "  blow  will 
spring  up  the  highest  type  of  religious  development.  For 
character  is  formed  from  within  by  the  efforts  and  strivings 
and  aspirations  of  the  individual.  It  can  never  be  imposed 
from  without.  The  will  is  made  strong  from  choosing  the 
right,  not  from  having  right  action  enforced  upon  it.  The 
life  of  man  is  "  made  beautiful  and  sweet  through  self- 
devotion  and  through  self-restraint.'^  But  this  must  be 
chosen  voluntarily,  else  it  fails  of  its  purpose. 

The  growth  of  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University  must 
remain  the  best  evidence  of  its  founder's  wisdom.  He  had 
the  sagacity  to  recognize  the  value  of  higher  education  and 
the  patriotism  to  give  the  rewards  of  a  successful  life  to  its 
advancement.  He  had  the  rarer  wisdom  to  discriminate 
between  the  real  and  the  temporary  in  university  or- 
ganization and  management,  and  his  provision  is  for  the 
genuine  and  permanent,  not  for  that  ''which  speedily 
passes  away."  Still  more  rare,  he  had  the  forethought  to 
leave  to  each  succeeding  generation  the  duty  of  adapting 
its  details  of  administration  and  methods  to  the  needs  of 
the  time. 

If  the  founder  we  love  and  the  founder  whose  memory  we 
revere  had  said,  *'  We  will  found  a  university  so  strong  that 
it  may  endure  for  all  the  centuries,  and  whose  organization 
shall  be  so  free  and  flexible  that  in  each  age  it  shall  reflect 
the  best  spirit  of  the  time,"  they  could  not  have  given  it 
greater  freedom  of  development  than  it  has  to-day.  For 
the  glory  of  the  university  must  lie  in  its  freedom,  in  that 
freedom  which  cannot  fall  into  license,  nor  lose  itself  in 
waywardness, —  that  freedom  which  knows  but  one  bond  or 
control,  the  eternal  truth  of  God. 


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prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


APR  25  1994 


jF£e  271994  tai 


T.M.  Reg.  U.S.  Pat.  Otf. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  UBRARY 


I 

I 


